Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. In April the government announced it would establish 13 dedicated pop-up clinics to vaccinate aged-care workers by the end of May. How many of those clinics are operating today and where are they?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At this point in time, we have 53 clinics, of which 50 are operating in Victoria. They did approximately 120 sites, as Commodore Young made known to the public on Monday. Last week there were, as I say, approximately 120 sites visited by the pop-up roving clinics to which Commodore Young referred. In addition, there are the New South Wales sites, and in addition to that, we have the complete vaccination in terms of visits to all residential aged-care facilities for first doses—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister for health will just pause for a second. The Deputy Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance. The minister knows we're asking about the 13 pop-up clinics promised, of which only three are operating and they're all in Sydney.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just say to the Deputy Manager of Opposition Business that, when you take a point of order on relevance, you need to say how it's relevant and not provide the answer you'd like the minister to give. The minister for health has the call, but I do remind him it was a specific question.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The correct answer is 53. We have 50 pop-up roving clinics in Victoria, which for some reason the opposition doesn't seem to believe is an important way to vaccinate workers. To put all of this in context: the goal of all of these vaccinations, the goal of all of the policies in Australia, is to protect lives. We have seen the world pass two million lives lost to COVID this year, 2021. The World Health Organization believes that the real figure is likely two to three times the official figure. In Australia, no person has caught COVID in this nation and died during the course of 2021. We have had one person who developed COVID in quarantine, having had it incubate there, having contracted it overseas. But having lost not one life in this country to COVID at a time when two million people officially, and probably closer to five million people unofficially, around the world have lost theirs is one of the most extraordinary public health achievements in Australia's history. I think that that is something that this nation can reflect upon with immense pride. And, yes, there are always challenges. But the fact that we have been able to offer vaccinations to residents in 100 per cent of aged-care facilities and second doses have been delivered to 95 per cent of facilities, and that not one Australian in this country has caught COVID and passed at a time when more than two million worldwide have lost their lives this year is one of Australia's great public health achievements.

I want to thank all of our workers—our aged-care workers, our health workers, our medical workers and our GPs. Together they have saved lives and protected lives on a grand scale.